Ice cube storage container and dispenser

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a container for storing and dispensing of ice cubes from a refrigerator so that the cubes may be conveniently received in a glass or other portable receptacle. The container is disposed in the freezer section of a refrigerator and includes an inclined chute down which the ice cubes have a tendency to slide. The inclined chute has, attached to its bottom, a vibrator means and also includes a resilient gasket extending around its periphery that attaches it to the walls of the container so that vibrations imparted to it for the delivery of ice down along the chute are isolated from the remainder of the refrigerator. A spring loaded sliding door is provided on the bottom side of the ice storing container, with an opening of the door compressing the spring and urging its remote end against a switch means that activates the vibrator means. Ice cubes then move down along the inclined chute means, being separated from one another by vibrating agitation, and drop downwardly through the opening provided by movement of the sliding door to its inner position.

Graser July 24, 1973 i ICE CUBE STORAGE CONTAINER AND Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves DISPENSER 1 A s a m e ry Mar n [75] Inventor: Clarence F. Graser, Columbus, Ohio Attorney Hfinson Fred Wmans et [73] Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corporation, [57] ABSTRACT Pittsburgh, Pa. Th t d t f t d d e mven lOIl prov1 es a con amer or s orin an 1s- [22] F'led: Julys 1971 pensing of ice cubes from a refrigerator so that the 21' AWL 1 0,5 7 cubes may be conveniently received in a glass or other portable receptacle. The container is disposed in the freezer section of a refri erator and includes an in- [52] US. Cl. 222/199, 222/226 dined chute down which ice cubes have a tendency [5 ll."- Cl. to slide The inclined chute has, attached to its bottom, Fleld 0 Search 2, 76, 161, a vibrator means and also includes a resilient gasket 222/ 162, 183, 196, 197-201, 217, 226, 23 ending around its periphery that attaches it to the walls 236, 243, 244, 246, 333, 409; 221/200, 202, of the container so that vibrations imparted to it for the 247, 259, 9, l0, 13; 259/29, l0, 6 41 delivery of ice down along the chute are isolated from i the remainder of the refrigerator. A spring loaded slid- [56] References ing door is provided on the bottom side of the ice stor- UNITED STATES PATENTS ing container, with an opening of the door compressing 3,217,940 11/1965 Fahn et al 222 199 x the spring and urging its remote end aga nst a switch 3,239,108 3/1966 Warner I 222/196 means that activates the vibrator means. Ice cubes then 3,248,018 4/1966 Fleischman 222/196 move down along the incfined chute means being epa- 4 Thomas 222/226 X rated from one another by vibrating agitation, and drop Igel et al. 221/13 downwardly through the opening provided by movement of the sliding door to its inner position.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures "Lio- U 0 -14 32A U \nB 56 34 a .64 V es ICE CUBE STORAGE CONTAINER AND DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION more particularly, relates to an ice cube container and dispenser means mounted in a freezer compartment of a refrigerator.

2. Description of the Prior Art The use of storing and dispensing means for the delivery of ice cubes to an individual utilizing a refrigerator with an ice cube maker contained therein is old and well known. Most of these systems utilize an auger type arrangement for moving the ice cubes from the storage means to the front of the refrigerator where they may be easily dispensed, with the auger means providing not only a motive force for the ice cubes but also tending to break up clumps of ice cubes during their movement toward the forward portion of the refrigerator. Recent U.S. patents which illustrate such an arrangement are U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,994, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,618.

These dispensing systems, similarly to previously utilized auger type systems, provide a rotating screw mechanism which has several operating parts in the area in which the ice cubes are disposed, and which is at least partially accessible to the user of the icecube dispensing arrangement. Thus, if the moving element or elements of any of them jam or are jammed by masses of ice cubes, it is possible for the user to reach inwardly or upwardly into the moving mechanism in an attempt to free the dispensing mechanism of jamming masses of ice cubes. It appears clear then that a dispensing arrangement that utilizes a plurality of accessible mechanical elements, some of which engage with the ice cubes as they are moved forwardly to be dispensed, is not the simplest or safest apparatus which might be utilized for the delivery of ice cubes to the domestic user.

Further, ice cube dispensing arrangements of which applicant is aware require a two-fold movement of the user to obtain ice cubes. More specifically, the dispensing system requires actuation by-a button or switch or .the like and the access door through which access is had to the ice cubes must be opened so the user may obtain ice cubes. This manner of operation can be somewhat cumbersome to the user compared with an .ice cube dispensing operation that requires only one manipulation by the user.

Accordingly, an ice cube dispensing system which does not utilize accessible or numerous ice engaging mechanical moving parts for its operation and which requires only a simple, single actuating movement by the user would provide a highly desirable system with obvious operating advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION shape being flat and angularly inclined downwardly and I outwardly so that an opening disposed at the bottom and front of the box like enclosure is available for the delivery of cubes to the user of the system. Inwardly, angularly directed portions of the chute means tend to center the ice cubes on the flat bottom portion of the V-shape to facilitate the delivery of ice cubes to the access opening. The inclined chute means includes a resilient gasket, attached to the box shaped enclosure and extending entirely around the periphery of the chute means, with this resilient gasket providing a sound and vibration insulation for the chute means relative to the box like enclosure thereby insulating and segregating vibration from the refrigerator with which it is utilized.

Mounted on the bottom side of the inclined chute means member is a vibrator mechanism which provides a vibratory action to the inclined chute means, upon actuation, to urge the ice cubes resting thereon downwardly and outwardly to the access opening. This vibrator mechanism also tends to loosen any cubes which are frozen together especially in the area directly above it so that individual ice cubes may be obtained through the access opening. A sliding trap door is normally spring urged to a closed position over the access opening to prevent unwanted dispensing of cubes. The rearmost portion of the spring engages a switch which governs the on-off operations of the vibrator mechanism. Upon movement of the sliding trap door inwardly to open the access opening, the end of the spring engaging the switch overcomes its internal bias and urges the switch to a closed postion providing a flow of current to the vibrator mechanism and initiating its action. Ice cubes are then delivered down the chute means and outwardly through the access opening, with the user catching the number of ice cubes required in a glass or similar container.

DRAWING DESCRIPTION For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the preferred embodiment, exemplary of the invention, shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the invention, partly in crosssection and partly schematic, taken generally on the line I-I of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 2 is a front view of the invention with the front member of the box-like enclosure removed so as to show the configuration of the chute means on which the ice cubes are supported.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The improved storage container and dispensing system 10 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, with a container 12 of general box-like configuration being provided for housing the remainder of the elements of the dispensing system 10. The container 12 includes a back wall 14, a front wall 16, side walls l8, l8 and bottom panel 20, all joined to form the aforementioned shape. The container 12 is to be disposed within afreezer compartment (not shown) of a refrigerator (not shown), with an ice maker 22 that may take the general form of the ice cube maker disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,997, issued Jan. 13, 1970, or the ice cube maker disclosed in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 104,083, filed Jan. 5, 1971, entitled Ice Maker Having A Vertical Rack Cam Means. The ice maker 22 is disposed above the container 12 so as to deposit ice cubes made therein within the container 12. It should be understood that ice cube makers other than the two mentioned ice makers could be utilized to provide a supply of ice cubes to the container 12. The ice cube maker 22 is also disposed within the freezer compartment (not shown) of a refrigerator (not shown) and may advantageously be mounted to the top panel of the freezer compartment as is illustrated in the referred to Patent and Patent Application.

Disposed within container 12 is a chute means 24, with the chute means 24 being inclined downwardly from the rear to the front of the container 12. The chute means 24 takes the form of a substantially flat bottomed V configuration throughout most of its crosssection, with a center member 26 forming the flat apex portion of the V and with the V having two inclined walls 28, 28 which extend from the center member 26 and angle upwardly relatively to the sides 18, 18 of the container 12 so that the ice cubes tend to slide down the walls 28, 28 and congregate on the center member 26. As is seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inclined walls 28, 28 of chute means 24 tend to taper to a point as they move upwardly towards rear panel 14 so that the uppermost portion of chute means 24 has no V shape. At its extreme upper end, then, this member is uniplanar throughout its lateral extent.

The centrally disposed center member 26 terminates short of the front wall 16 of container 12 so that, at its front, the chute means 24 has an aperture 30 formed between the front portions of inclined walls 28, 28, the bottom panel 20 also terminating at the location of the termination or center member 26. In conformance with the spacing between the forward portions of inclined walls 28, 28, the aperture 30 takes the general form of an elongated rectangle, with the elongation of this rectangular opening extending inwardly from front to rear between front wall 16 of container 12 and the termination of center member 26 and bottom panel 20. Accordingly, a means is provided for the passage of ice cubes downwardly and outwardly of the container 12.

Ice cubes indicated generally at 32 in FIG. 1 are seen piled in a generally conglomerated manner on the chute means 24, with the majority of these ice cubes receiving their support from centrally disposed center member 26, having moved to this location down inclined walls 28, 28 of chute means 24. Ice cubes 32 are delivered through an aperture 34 of ice maker 22, for example, so that the container 12 provides a receiving means for the same with the ice cubes then in a condition for delivery by the dispensing means 10. Since the ice cubes 32 may be delivered in a slightly wet condition to the container 12 and since the slope of the inclined chute means 24 is insufficient to move the ice cubes 32 to the front of the container 12 adjacent the aperture 30, a vibrator means 34 is disposed below the chute means 24 and rigidly attached to it by any conventional arrangement so that the same is generally fixed relative to the centrally disposed center member 26.

Such a vibrator means is substantially conventional so that no additional description of its particular configuration will be given here. It is sufficient to note that the vibrator means 34 must be of a sufficient size to provide a general vibratory reciprocating and shaking motion to the chute means 24. lmparting of these vibrating forces to chute means 24 tends to move the ice cubes 32 downwardly along the centrally disposed center member 26 and, at the same time, tends to loosen and separate any ice cubes disposed immediately above the vibrator means 24 which have frozen together due to their delivered wet condition from ice maker 22. Because the vibrator means 34 is disposed between chute means 24 and the back wall 14 and the lower panel 20 of container 12, it is impossible for a user of the dispensing means 10 to touch or engage the vibrating means 34 or any of its moving parts. This means is fully covered and protected and provides safe operation for the user of the dispensing means 10 with such an encapsulated arrangement not shown in the prior art.

In order to isolate the vibratory motions imparted to chute means 24 by vibrator means 34 so as to prevent the container 12 and adjacent portions of the refrigerator (not shown) from acting as a sounding board, a resilient gasket means 36 made from a material such as rubber extends entirely around the periphery of inclined chute means 24 and is attached to container 12 in the following manner. A rear gasket 38 extends along the rear periphery of inclined walls 28, 28 and centrally disposed center member 26 and is attached to these element and rear wall 14 so as to be interposed between the rear wall 14 of container 12 and the chute means 24. A pair of attached resilient gaskets 40, 40 extend along the transverse edges of inclined walls 28, 28, between the inclined walls and the side walls 18, 18 of container 12 to provide a means of resilient nature interposed between the side walls 18, 18 and the chute means 24. At the front of the chute means 24, a medially disposed resilient gasket portion 41 extends across the front termination of centrally disposed center member 26 and attaches the same to the front termination of bottom panel 20. A pair of front resilient gaskets 42, 42 extend between and attach the terminations of the front ends of the inclined sides 28, 28 to the front panel 16 of container 12. Thus, the entire periphery of the inclined chute means 24 is resiliently mounted relative to the container 12 in which it is disposed so that vibrating and shaking motions imparted to the inclined chute means tend to be damped out and do not pass to the walls of the container 12.

In order to actuate the vibrator means 34 and provide egress for the ice cubes 32, a sliding door arrangement 44 is mounted so as to be slidably movable relative to the bottom of the container 12 adjacent the area of aperture 30. Door arrangement 44 takes the form of a horizontal extending panel 46 that covers aperture 30 and to the front of which is mounted a downwardly depending member 48 that serves as a handle for the door means 44. In order to guide the door arrangement 44 between its inner and outer sliding movement, a pair of ledge forming members 50, 50 of right angle configuration are disposed in transversely spaced relationship on the bottom panel 20 of container 12, with these members extending substantially parallel to the direction of travel of door arrangement 44. The space between the guide ledge forming members 50, 50, is filled by a panel member 52 so that a guiding arrangement is formed having an enclosed, generally elongated tunnel configuration into which the door panel 46 may be telescopically received. The upwardly extending portions of each of the ledge forming members 50, 50 prevent the door arrangement 44 from skewing as it moves inwardly into the enclosure formed by the ledge forming members 50, 50 and panel member 52.

Disposed within the elongated space formed by the panel member 52 and ledge forming members 50, 50

is a resilient biasing means 54 that may take the form of a conventional compression spring that is centrally spaced transversely of the distance between the ledge forming members 50, 50. The front end of the resilient biasing means 54 abuttingly engages the rear portion of the door panel 46 so as to urge the door arrangement 44 into an outer, closed position over aperture 30 to thereby prevent the dispensing of ice cubes 32 during that period of time when this is not desired. The resilient biasing means 54 extends rearwardly from its front end within the space between the ledge forming members 50, 50 to an area adjacent a switch means 58. It has an abutment means 56 mounted on its most rearward portion, with this abutment means extending within the switch means 58. The switch means 58 provides a flow of current to actuate the vibrator means 34 when this switch is in a closed position.

Within the switch means 58, a leaf spring 60 is normally urged, by its inherent resilient bias to a non contacting position relative to a contact 62, with the contact 62 being mounted in fixed relation within the switch means 58. The leaf spring 60 is constantly in electrical connection with a lead 64 that extends to a power supply 65 so as to place the leaf spring 60 at the potential of one side of the power supply. Another lead 66 extends from the opposite side of the power supply 65 and is electrically connected to a terminal (not shown) on the vibrator means 34 so as to place the. vibrator means 34 in an open circuitwith the power supply. Another lead 68 extends from another terminal (not shown) on the opposite side of the vibrator means 34 and is in electrical connection with the contact 62.

Thus, when the leaf spring 60 is forced to a contacting thereby initiate a vibrating dispensing'motion to the inclined chute means 24.

Then, because of the abutment of the door arrangement 44 inwardly with the resilient biasing means 54 and a consequent compression of it and movement of the leaf spring 60, actuation of the door arrangement 44 to a position to provide an .unobstructed opening through aperture 30 simultaneously actuates the operation of the vibrator means 34 so that ice cubes are loosened and moved down the inclined chute means 24 to fall through the aperture 30 into a container which, conveniently, may be held therebelow for receipt of the cubes.

It should be clear from the description just offered that storage container and dispensing means for ice cubes has been provided in which actuation of the access opening for the dispensing of cubes simultaneously actuates their dispensing through this opening and, further, that the mechanism occasioning movement of the ice cubes toward the access opening tends to not only cause the ice cubes to traverse towards the opening, but also shakes the ice cubes loosening any formed conglomerated mass so that individual ice cubes may fall through the access opening. It should be additionally noted that the movable elements of the actuating arrangement are fully housed by the container and ice cube chute means so that they cannot be jammed by ice cubes and so that the user of this accessory cannot unintentionally injure himself by moving his hands or arms into the area where rotating or reciprocating ice motivating elements are located,

The description offered is exemplary only and sets forth only the preferred mode of carrying out the principles of the invention. Accordingly, many modifications could'be obviously made thereto which would still fall within the spirit and scope of the description offered. For example, the center member 26 of the chute means 24 could be made only one ice cube wide, either through its entire length or in the area of it contiguous to the access aperture 30 so that ice cubes could be delivered one at a time.

What is claimed is:

1. An ice cube storage container and dispenser apparatus including a box-like container having peripheral side walls and a bottom wall, a portion of said bottom wall being inclined downwardly and forwardly from the rear wall to an intermediate position of the bottom wall, the remaining portion of the bottom wall defining an opening, movable door means supported on said bottom wall normally closing said opening and manually movable to an open position, electrically energized vibrator means attached to said inclined portion of said bottom wall, normally off switch means electrically connected to said vibrator means and operably associated with said door means to move to an on" position in response to said door means moving to an open position, whereby opening said door means energizes said vibrator to shake ice cubes resting on said inclined por tion downwardly to be dropped through said opening.

2. Structure according to claim 1 wherein said inclined portion of said bottom wall is peripherally attached to the adjacent structure of the container through a shock-absorbing resilient material whereby vibratory motion imparted to said'inclined portion is isolated from the remaining structure of the container.

3. Structure according to claim 1 wherein said vibrating means is disposed on the exterior surface of said inclined portion of the bottom wall whereby it is relatively inaccessible to the user of said ice cube container and dispensing apparatus. 

1. An ice cube storage container and dispenser apparatus including a box-like container having peripheral side walls and a bottom wall, a portion of said bottom wall being inclined downwardly and forwardly from the rear wall to an intermediate position of the bottom wall, the remaining portion of the bottom wall defining an opening, movable door means supported on said bottom wall normally closing said opening and manually movable to an open position, electrically energized vibrator means attached to said inclined portion of said bottoM wall, normally ''''off'''' switch means electrically connected to said vibrator means and operably associated with said door means to move to an ''''on'''' position in response to said door means moving to an open position, whereby opening said door means energizes said vibrator to shake ice cubes resting on said inclined portion downwardly to be dropped through said opening.
 2. Structure according to claim 1 wherein said inclined portion of said bottom wall is peripherally attached to the adjacent structure of the container through a shock-absorbing resilient material whereby vibratory motion imparted to said inclined portion is isolated from the remaining structure of the container.
 3. Structure according to claim 1 wherein said vibrating means is disposed on the exterior surface of said inclined portion of the bottom wall whereby it is relatively inaccessible to the user of said ice cube container and dispensing apparatus. 